Accessibility Information

If you need special accommodations in order to participate in activities of the Utah State Courts, contact the clerk of court for the location where your case is being held.

Please try to make your request for accommodations as far in advance as possible in order to allow the court time to review your request and make arrangements for the accommodation.

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Who can get an accommodation?

You can receive reasonable accommodations from the courts if you have a disability that limits one or more major life activity. Major life activities include:

• caring for yourself
• performing manual tasks
• walking
• seeing
• hearing
• speaking
• breathing
• learning
• working

Examples of disabilities include mobility or other motor impairments, psychological and mental illness, visual impairments, and hearing loss.

What kinds of accommodations may the court provide?

Accommodations may include:

• Making reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures. For example, alternative time schedules, conferences by phone.
• Furnishing, at no charge, auxiliary aids and services, equipment, devices, materials in alternative formats, readers for the blind or others, or certified interpreters for persons with a hearing loss.
• Relocating services or programs to accessible facilities.
• Providing services at alternative sites.

The court cannot disregard the law to grant a request for an accommodation. For example, the court cannot extend the statute of limitations for filing an action for a person with a disability. The court also cannot provide a free attorney as an accommodation.

What if the court offers a different accommodation? Do I have to accept it?

The court can offer a different accommodation than what you requested. For example, if a juror is blind and requests that written materials be transcribed into Braille, the court can consider alternatives, such as providing a reader or a tape-recorded transcript of the written material.

The accommodation offered may not be your first choice. Although the court is not required to provide the best accommodation, it must provide one that will effectively allow you to participate in court proceedings.

Sometimes the clerk of court does not have the authority to grant the requested accommodation. For example, you may ask the clerk to change your hearing date because of your disability. You may need to file a motion with the court to ask the judge to grant the continuance.

Can the court deny my request?

The court can deny your request for accommodation in certain circumstances.

• The court does not have to provide personal devices such as wheelchairs, prescription eyeglasses, hearing aids to people with disabilities.
• The court does not have to provide services of a personal nature such as assistance with eating, toileting, and dressing.
• A request can be denied if the accommodation would place an excessive burden on the courts financial or staff resources.
• A request can be denied if the accommodation would significantly change the kinds of services that judicial officers normally provide to court users.

If the court denies your request, you can file a complaint with the Administrative Office of the Courts by following the process explained in Rule of Judicial Administration 3-417.

Utah State Courts Contacts

Utah Resources

Disability Law Center
1-800-662-9080
1-800-550-4182 (TTY)

Relay Utah
1-800-346-4128 or 711

Utah Assistive Technology Program (UATP)

Utah State Office of Rehabilitation

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The federal government provides information about the Americans with Disabilities Act online at http://www.ada.gov/.

The full text of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (42 U.S.C., § 12101 et seq.) is available online at www.ada.gov/pubs/ada.htm.

The Utah State Courts mission is to provide the people an open, fair, efficient, and independent system for the advancement of justice under the law.